Improvement in folding seats



W. W. PARKER. Folding-SeatsL AM PHDTQ-LITHDGRAPHIC cu m. (osnanuz's mocsss) Patented May 20, 1873..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM W. PARKER, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOLDING SEATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 139,021, dated May 20, 1873; application filed October 16,1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WM. WHITWELL PARK- ER, of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Portable Folding-Seat Bench, of which the following is a description:

Nature of the Invention.

My invention is designed to secure for school and other similar wooden benches the advantages of a folding or turn-up seat, and at the same time renderthe whole portable, simple, and inexpensive in construction, and to avoid the necessity of securing the bench so constructed rigidly to the floor or other support; and it consists in the employment of a horizontal longitudinal beam, extending the whole length of the bench, in combination with and forming the support for the turn-up or folding seat, said beam being so situated upon and with relation to the supportingstandards that the center of gravity (whether the seat is in use or not) always tends to equalize and distribute the strain upon the standards, and thereby maintain the equilibrium of the bench without the necessity of securing the standards rigidly to the floor or other support. all substantially as hereinafter described.

' General Description.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portable bench embodying my iu1- provements and illustrating their application to a double or long bench where three or more standards are necessary, one of the seats being shown up and the other down. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the same, showing the seat turned up in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional perspective view, illustrating the employment of the lower rail or portion of the back of the seat as a stop for the latter.

I design makin g the entire bench of wood. The standards A are formed in any ordinary.or suitable manner or shape, the principal requisite being that they admit of the mounting of the horizontal longitudinal beam B upon and between them, in such position with relation to their base that the line of gravity, whether the seat is in use or not, will always fall within and near the center of said base, and tend constantly to maintain the equilibrium of the bench, and thereby avoid the necessity of securing the standards rigidly to the floor or other support. The slotted or other form of back also connects and binds the standards together, the whole, with the beam, forming a frame-work for the reception and support of the folding or turn-up seat 0.

The latter, instead of being simply a seat large enough for the accommodation of a single person, as where turn-up seats have been heretofore used, is made continuous the whole length of the bench, excepting where the latter is of such length as to require the employment of three or more standards, (as in the drawing) in which case itis preferable to divide the seat into the least possiblenumber of sections. The seat (3 is hinged on the under side to the beam B in such a manner that when the seat is in position for use none of the weight or strain is on the hinges, the whole pressure from above being sustained by the beam. When the seat is turned up, then, and then only, the hinges support the weight of the seat, and'for this purpose they are abundantly strong.

The advantages claimed for my invention are, that it affords a simple, portable bench for school-rooms and similar places, which combines all the advantages of the turn-up seats used in concert-halls, &c. To enable the adoption of such a bench in the situations referred to, it is essential that its construction be simple, and such as to avoid the necessity of securing it rigidly to the floor or other support, and it must be so comparatively inexpensive as to add little or nothing in excess of the cost of the ordinary wooden benches in use at the present time-conditions which I believe my device fully anticipates.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- Aportable bench, consisting of two or more standards, A, supporting the horizontal longitudinal beam B, to which the folding or turn-up seat is hinged, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WM. WHITWELL PARKER.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL R. THAYER, J. SIMMONs. 

